Courts Surrenderd to Corruption

Fighting corruption even during 2017 has been part of statements by senior state officials, but concrete results against this phenomenon have been missing.

The competent authorities say they have taken action in this direction, but the results have been minimal in fighting this phenomenon.

Anti-Corruption Agency Director Shaip Havolly told Radio Free Europe that efforts to combat corruption phenomenon have not been missed, but the results have not been achieved even during 2017.

The law enforcement institutions, Prosecution, Police and Agency are making criminal statements and sending to the prosecutor. The prosecution is raising charges, the court is rejecting them. In some form, there have been accusations or throwing each other's ball, however, there have been obstacles to law enforcement, and I think the question of responsibility should be addressed where this problem is being created, in order to make progress”, Havol said.

Authorities in Kosovo say that between 381 and 381 criminal charges admitted from January to September 2017, 321 criminal charges, or 84.25%, have been prosecuted, while from 630 persons in accepted criminal charges, 681 cases have been prosecuted.

The country's institutions, throughout the year, said they have placed a priority on the issue of fighting corruption and organised crime, and that no one is immune or above the law, but field experts have declared that the problems remain, according to them, “namely, in the fact of little will to fight this” phenomenon.

In his annual speech to the Kosovo Assembly, President Hashim Thaci said the “fight against organised crime, corruption and terrorism are and must remain priorities. Kosovo will not surrender to these challenges and will not allow our country to be perceived as corrupt. Today's heroes are the ones listed in the uncompetitive fight against organised crime and corruption”.

International institutions say Kosovo has high levels of corruption and a culture of impunity towards officials involved in corrupt relatives.

Meanwhile, local organisations say high-level corruption in Kosovo continues to remain the challenge and phenomenon that is destroying democracy and hindering economic development in the country.

Kosovo Institute for Justice Director Betim Musliu told Radio Free Europe that the profile of corruption cases followed in Kosovo is low and rarely high profile.

“Based on systematic monitoring of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, it turns out that still no high profile official is sentenced to effective prison for criminal corruption. Since there is no pursuit of higher profit, and political impacts on the appointment of high positions are consistently present, then this war cannot be fought without people with integrity”, Musliu said.

Even Chief State Prosecutor Alexander Lumezi, at a Prosecutorial Council conference in late 2017, has criticised prosecutors for their non-efficiency in corruption.

There's an impasse in every prosecutor. In the Pristina Constitutional Prosecutor, only 15 subjects are performed less than they have been admitted. No prosecutor can discern the extent of this reporting period. The fight against corruption exclusively should also be investigated to prosecute high-level criminal acts of corruption, but should not be put aside even the criminal acts of middle and small corruption”, Lumez has declared.

The fight against corruption and more concrete results have become part of the European Union's criteria for visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens.

Fighting corruption, for the Government of Kosovo, no longer stands one of the conditions unmet in the visa liberalisation process.

According to the Government, institutions have noted concrete advances and results in this regard.

International representatives in Kosovo have called on Kosovo institutions, in particular the justice system in the country, to strengthen the fight against corruption.